‘National Assembly’s intervention in Kogi Assembly crisis necessary’

A former Speaker of Kogi State House of Assembly, Clarence Olafemi, has urged Senator Adeleke Mamora to consider the impending doom that could befall the Kogi State House of Assembly should the Nation Assembly’s Ad-Hoc Committee fail to intervene in the current impasse at the Assembly.

Mamora, last week, described the suspension of the Assembly’s proceedings by the Ad-Hoc Committee of the House of Representatives as unconstitutional.

The former senator from Lagos State noted that the National Assembly committee can only intervene when there is a state of emergency in the Assembly or when it ceases to function.

But Olafemi disagreed.

He said: “I believe the comment of respected Senator Mamora was misinformed, because it is the person in the middle of a river that knows the depth of the river. The Ad-Hoc Committee came to Kogi State; when it came, what it saw and hard, Mamora did not know.

“This situation can be likened to a case in which the distinguished senator was the frontliner to resolving the problem arising from the sickness of the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. The National Assembly saw that the country was drifting towards anarchy and quickly moved in to give recognition and power to the Vice-President to perform the function of the President. It was out of the doctrine of necessity, a decision taken because of the circumstance.

“There is no portion of 1999 Constitution that empowers the National Assembly to do that. But the good people of Nigeria appreciated their intervention. We eventually overcame the problem and we ended that administration. That is why we still continue to have democracy in this country.”

The former Speaker, who was also an acting governor, noted that the action of the ad-hoc committee was to avert a crisis in the Assembly and the state.

He said: “The two factions, which almost have the same strength, have separate Speakers with different maces, among other things. Both had a schedule to resume sitting the same day under the same roof. You can imagine what would have happened if such a decision was not taken by the ad-hoc committee.

“We have not come out from the shock of the Deeper Life Bible Church massacre in Okene; the floods destroyed our properties worth several billions of naira. Yet, we are giving room for anarchy.

“So, in this circumstance, who is the appropriate person or body that can halt the sitting of last Thursday that was only two days ahead? The Commissioner of Police has no such power; the governor is being accused by the other group. So, who has the constitutional power other than the National Assembly, which can halt what is likely to result in a pandemonium?

“We Kogians never complained about the National Assembly’s temporary decision, that the activities of the Assembly be suspended to douse tension until the problem is resolved. Is it when we are counting the number of our Assembly members in the hospital as a result of this problem that the crises would be quickly resolved? I don’t think the senator should be more Catholic than the Pope. He cannot be more concerned than we are in the state. We have contributed to the building and development of Kogi State and we don’t want it destroyed.”

The former Speaker noted that resolving the Assembly’s crisis should go beyond the Constitution.

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